Haemodyalisis or Artificial Kidney

The kidney's main function is to remove excess fluid and toxic waste material from blood. When kidneys lose their filtering ability, dangerous levels of fluid and toxic wastes accumulate in the body. This condition is known as kidney  failure or renal failure

In case of kidney failure or renal failure, the affecte person often receives haemodialysis /treatment with artificial kidney.

The artificial kidney uses the principle of dialysis to purify the blood of patients  with kidney failure

Dialysis is a method of removing toxic substances (impurities or wastes) from the blood after reqular intervals, when the kidneys are failed to do so.In haemodialysis

blood drained from a convenient artery is pumped into a dialysing unit after adding an anticoagulant like heparin.

The unit contains a coiled cellophane tube surrounded by a fluid called dialysing fluid, having the same composition,

as that of plasma, except the nitrogenous wastes. The porous cellophane membrane of the tube allows the passage of molecules based on concentration gradient. As nitrogenous wastes are absent in the dialysing fluid, these substances

freely move out, thereby clearing the blood.

The cleaned blood is pumped back to the body through a vein, after adding anti-heparin to it. This method is helpful for thousands of uremic patients.